


Simple Concepts

by chronicAngel



Series: Leaves in the Summer [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking, F/M, Flirting, Hair Braiding, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-10 00:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13493289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: Normal people go on dates, but they are not normal.





	Simple Concepts

His hair runs in dark rivulets down his back on a normal day. She knows because she'd spent hours staring at it in envy in their childhood, and now spends large portions of her time combing her fingers through it when he's pretending to be asleep on the far left side of her bed.

Currently, she's sitting cross-legged on her small couch while he sits patiently in front of her on the floor, dipping his head forward so she can access the ends of his locks while she pulls them into a messy braid and slurs through complaints about her day. She knows he doesn't actually care for her complaints, but she hasn't stopped because he puts up with them regularly. "And _Jiraiya_ ," she starts, indignant, "will never _leave me alone_."

He hums as he reaches blindly to one side for the bottle of sake, pouring himself another appropriately small glass while she continues to rant. "I was recording another one of Chiyo's formulas on a scroll and he just _barges in_ without even knocking or anything. I mean, I could have been doing any number of things!" She feels her cheeks flush further as her mind starts to wander and he just hums again.

"Are you listening to me?" She whines, and annoyingly he hums once more.

She tugs lightly on his hair in reprimand. If he notices, he doesn't seem to mind.

Leaning close until her chest is pressing into his back, she smirks as she feels him go rigid against her and pours her own glass of sake, which will be her seventh one tonight, not that she's counting. Getting drunk with Orochimaru has become one of her hobbies since Jiraiya's birthday months ago, though they both refuse to acknowledge that anything more than drinking and occasional sex might be going on. Well, it's less of a "they both refuse to acknowledge" thing and more of a "he doesn't talk about it, so she doesn't bring it up" thing. She finds the way his breathing slowly returns to normal as she pulls away endlessly amusing and has to actively stop herself from saying as much.

She presses her lips close to his ear as she takes the braid, which has completely fallen apart, between her fingers nonetheless and practically breathes, "It came undone."

 _You came undone_ is what she doesn't say, though she's sure he hears it anyway, turning toward her quickly. The way his lips smash into hers is almost violent, desperate in a way she can only ever stir in him on accident, but she doesn't protest as her fingers tangle into the smooth strands of inky black that already rested naturally between them. The pitiful remains of the braid come apart quickly and she knows that there was really very little hope for it anyway. He had confessed to her after their third encounter that he liked it when she played with his hair, though she's not sure he was fully conscious for the revelation so much as mumbling about how nice it had felt while she played with what was, at the time, a total mess in his sleep.

He's on top of her on the couch in a matter of minutes and she's completely breathless, staring up at him with wide amber eyes when he does eventually pull away. "Did you need something, hime?" The nickname doesn't feel as condescending as it would have only months ago, and her breath catches.

She's suddenly very aware of the fact that she is drunk. Her cheeks are warm, only growing warmer under his focused gaze and the weight of his surprisingly strong, slender body on top of hers, and if she focused hard enough she's sure she would hear the sake sloshing around in her ears with her blood rushing and her frenzied heartbeat. He seems to be aware of the fact that her presses and whispers were a ploy for his attention, as they often are.

"Take me on a date," she says, startling herself.

The statement is braver than she tends to be with Orochimaru, and he watches her through narrowed slits for eyes as though trying to put together a puzzle.

She decides she has messed up when he moves off of her, and a part of her is tempted to pull him back and pretend she didn't say anything. It is always a gamble to do so with him, but in the rare moments it results in relief instead of his further annoyance with her, she can't say that she regrets the decision. It's the only sort of gamble she's ever won, after all. "Why?" He asks after a long minute, and he sounds genuinely confused.

She finds herself snorting before she can think of it. "Because it's what people _do_ , Orochimaru," she offers, and he only looks more confused by this, so she lays back against the arm of the couch and puts her legs in his lap. " _Normal_ people," she clarifies, staring at the ceiling. "They go out to eat or see Bunraku together, and maybe, if you're lucky--"

"I _know_ what a date is, Tsunade," he snaps, and for all her effort to take him seriously she still ends up snickering into her fingers, which leads him to scowl at her. "I just don't understand the purpose."

She thinks about this for a second, and he graciously allows her this time to reflect, though she wonders if he isn't simply puzzling over the reasons for going on dates in his own head. She has been on dates before-- she can technically even say she's been on dates with him, if you count ditching Jiraiya at bars to sit together in corners and get drunk before inevitably winding up back in her apartment. It's a difficult concept to explain to someone who doesn't seem to understand it though, and she takes a long time to ponder how exactly to explain such a basic concept to him. He's always been so smart, and the fact that he can't understand something as basic as this is strange to her. Eventually, she begins, waving her hands vaguely in the air in front of her in a way she knows tends to annoy Jiraiya that she can't actually control as she speaks. "So you can share the things you enjoy with each other... Get to know each other better."

He scoffs as she finishes on this thought and she thinks that the simple explanation falls flat. "We are shinobi. It is against our way of life to share anything, or to have anything too dear to us at all. Possessions and joys are fleeting, and to cling to them is not only optimistic but naive." He sounds as though he's come straight from a shinobi manual, and she is tempted to bury her face in her hands even as he continues, "And we have known each other our entire lives. No one knows you better than I do." She can't help the small pang of indignation she feels that he doesn't suggest the reverse is also true.

She doesn't argue with him though, simply sitting up and placing herself in his lap. She doesn't try to take it anywhere, oddly sober after their recent conversation, just happy to maintain contact with him in some way. He has stopped trying to protest this, and buries his nose in her shoulder. She can still practically hear the gears turning in his head, but waits for him to finish whatever thought he is forming before speaking. "I suppose it could be a useful tactic to gather information on another... for missions, and such things," he postulates, quiet and tentative. She finds her heart racing, and she's drunk all over again.

"For missions," she repeats, and rests her face against his chest. Normal people go on dates, but they are not normal. She thinks this conversation on her couch is enough.


End file.
